


Spite

by Baxter54132



Series: AB (After Breakup) [1]
Category: Adventure Time
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/F, Obsidian Spoilers, Pre Canon, They still love each other, hurt/angst, post breakup
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-30
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:41:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27790924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Baxter54132/pseuds/Baxter54132
Summary: Marceline does not handle the breakup well.
Relationships: Princess Bubblegum/Marceline
Series: AB (After Breakup) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2033209
Comments: 1
Kudos: 83





	Spite

**Author's Note:**

> Ok here we go with the bubbline fic. This is because Obsidian has wrecked me by the way. That is all I have to say. I partnered with Flipomatic, so once you are done reading this one please go to hers next in the series, titled Animosity.

0 AB (After Breakup)

When Marceline arrives home, her first instinct is to scream into the night, so fiercely that all of Ooo is awoken from its slumber. Her second is to curl up in a tight ball with Hambo and cry for the next ten years. Both feel viable, hot tears prickling at her cheeks as Bonnie’s harsh words bounce around her skull.

_“Fine, we’re done.”_

The song intended to hurt Bonnie, and Marceline got what she wanted, maybe a little too well. She remembers Bonnie’s lips turned down in a steep frown, her pink cheeks lacking their usual shine. The princess disappeared down the steps leading away from the furnace. Marceline floated after her a few minutes later but she was too late. The candy van they had arrived in was driving away from Glass City, leaving a trail of dust in its wake. Presumably, Bonnie was behind the wheel. That was Marceline’s ride too, so she had the distinct pleasure of flying home. It only took a couple hours, but while the ride down was spent in mirthful joy and teasing, the trip back was utter silence.

Marceline rubs her eyes angrily, her tears betraying her. Good riddance, Bonnie is nothing but a thorn in her side. She’s still hovering in the entrance to her home, well home might be a stretch. She’s currently living in a small hut next to a river. It doesn’t have much, just a bedroom, bathroom, and small kitchen/living space. She never spends much time there because she’s usually with… she swallows deeply, trying to push the name away before it drifts back into her thoughts. She touches down with her feet and places her bass on its stand near the door.

She moves to collapse onto her bed, but only takes a couple steps before something catches her eye. _She’s here_ and staring right at her. Okay, she’s not really here, but her photo is. The photo and hand carved wooden frame were a gift from Bonnie on their first anniversary. It’s the two of them at a friend’s wedding together, dancing. Bonnie is mid spin, with Marceline holding her right hand up high to twirl her. Both have expressions of pure joy. Marceline clutches the front of her shirt and winces at how happy they were. Now she knows better, she can’t believe she was sucked in by that pretty face and kind demeanor. This picture used to bring her happiness, but now pain spikes through her. The photo is sitting on her nightstand, she remembers telling Bonnie she put it there so she’s the first thing she sees in the morning and the last thing she sees at night.

How tacky, Marceline finishes the walk to her bed and slams the photo face down on the nightstand. She’s too exhausted to deal with it tonight, but tomorrow the photo will meet its demise.

Marceline finally lies down on her bed, sinking into the pillow with a long sigh. She quickly drifts into unconsciousness, and fortunately it’s a dreamless sleep.

The next morning she’s not feeling much better, but never goes back on her word and deals with the irritating photo first thing. She does a sweep of the hut, locating six more photos of the two of them and three different kinds of beakers, which were surely left there when Bonnie was doing some freakish science experiment.

Marceline throws on a black tank top, black pants, long gloves and her large sun hat. No reason to look fancy, she isn’t going to be seeing anyone today. She gathers the photos, beakers, and also her metal trashcan and heads outside; she knows just what to do

First up are the beakers, she goes onto the roof of her hut and places them down side by side on the roof. She picks up the first one, turning it around in her hand to inspect it. There’s really no way to tell what experiment they were used for, and hell if Marceline remembers. She knows what these represent though. This one in her hands represents all of the time Bonnie spent in the laboratory instead of being with her. She always valued that lab more than their relationship. Marceline raises her arm and hurls the beaker off the roof, aiming for the grass in front of her hut. She smirks and feels satisfied when the glass beaker smashes into a million pieces upon contact. Just like her heart, good.

Marceline picks up the next beaker, this one represents all the times that Bonnie invited Marceline to events and then ignored her at them, or worse scolded her for perfectly normal behavior if she so much as took a step out of line. Marceline isn’t sure which of the two is worse. She throws the beaker to the ground to join its friend in pieces.

The third beaker is slightly larger than the first two, which is why it’s saved for last. Marceline picks it up and cradles it in both hands for a moment, noticing how the sun glimmers off it’s base. This one represents all the tender moments shared between them which were unfairly cut off or rescheduled due to _kingdom business_. There’s always something interrupting them and eating up Bonnie’s time, it isn’t fair.

_It wasn’t her fault_ , the rational side of her brain tries to tell her, but she blocks it out. There’s always a choice, and Bonnie made hers. She raises both arms and flings the beaker towards the ground with all her might. The crunching sound of glass on glass is satisfying, but now completed she still feels anger and sadness gnawing at her gut.

The photos are next, and she flies down to where she left them on her doorpost. Only a couple of them have frames, the rest were stuck to her fridge with magnets. She used to love looking at these, but now they only make her sick. She picks up her metal trashcan and pushes it firmly into the dirt. Once secure, she drops the photos in one by one, giving them each a long look despite herself.

She pulls her matchbook out of her front pocket next. With this, any hint of Bonnie in her home will be removed, with this she can be free. She pulls out a match and holds it in her right hand, matchbox in the left. She inhales deeply, is this really what she wants? Yes, she’s furious with Bonnie, and right now these pictures are causing her pain, but she’s immortal. What if in 800 years she wants to remember her previous relationship? She’ll want these to look back at.

This is enough doubt for her to drop the match, still unlit, original plans forgotten. She scoops the photos out of the trashcan and picks it up as well to take back inside. She floats inside and ends up placing the pictures into a small cardboard box which she shoves under her bed. They’ll be safe there.

* * *

Without Bonnie, time seems to crawl but is also moving far too quickly. Marceline immediately decides to move. Though Bonnie didn’t spend much time in the hut, she has visited in the past, and Marceline is ready for a fresh start. She moves back to the treehouse she occupied a couple hundred years prior. Luckily for her it’s unoccupied and ready for moving in. She makes sure to put the box of photos under her new bed as well but does not open it.

Marceline takes a few years off from music, still writing songs but no longer performing. She never goes out during the day and does everything she can to avoid going to the Candy Kingdom. When she does return to the music scene, she has a new repertoire in hand, and while none of the songs list Bonnie by name, many have hints and descriptions that wouldn’t match many others. The songs tend to be angry and loud, which suits Marceline just fine because she is still quite angry, and quite loud.

Now that she’s back on stage, Marceline starts getting invited to parties and events. She used to attend these all the time back when she was a new performer, but after dating Bonnie stopped going, opting to spend as much time with her girlfriend as possible. Now that they’re broken up, she starts attending again. She meets some… interesting individuals to say the least. Marceline quickly falls into a fling with an avid fan. They break up after a short while, so she finds another, then another.

The experience leaves her empty, and after the final and toughest break up of this chain she sits on the roof of her treehouse, axe bass in hand. She strums and sings “Woke Up” to herself. The song brings Marceline strength, validates her, and reminds her that she did the right thing, and right now that’s what she needs to get by.

* * *

105 AB

Once Marceline stops going to after parties, her social life pretty much dies and goes to heaven (unlike her haha.) She doesn’t see anyone outside of her music performances, and that’s fine with her. Her anger towards Bonnie fades, placed aside in favor or simply not thinking of her ex at all.

When she hears about a princess only bonfire, she feels her old mischievous side rise to the surface and she can’t help herself. She wants to cause mayhem.

Marceline dresses in ripped jeans and a black t-shirt which is definitely one size too small. Marceline likes it that way though. She ties her hair up in a loose ponytail, so it won’t get in her face.

The bonfire is only about a twenty minute flight from her treehouse, so she heads out once the sun is firmly set beyond the horizon. She plots while she’s in transit, what’s the best way to pick on these preppy princesses? Spooking them from the darkness could be good. She could turn into a bat and fly through the crowd and steal someone’s s’more. That sounds great, and she gets a snack out of it too. So many good choices, she’ll just have to do a little bit of everything.

Marceline arrives on scene. The bonfire is visible from at least a mile away, and as she approaches, she can see why. The fire is at least 6 feet high, giant logs stacked on top of each other to form a giant cube. Marceline will never admit it but she’s quite impressed. The fire is in the middle of a large clearing, with trees on the outside of the clearing, making a weird shadow effect since the light doesn’t get far into the surrounding forest. The shadows dance with the cackling of the fire.

Marceline hovers high above the party, scoping out who she knows. There are about 30 people there currently, and as expected yes, Marceline does know most of them. She’s trying to pick her first target when her eyes land on an unexpected pink partygoer.

Oh glob, of course she’s here. Marceline clenches her fists; all thoughts of pranking falling out of her head and being replaced with ones of Bonnie. She wills herself to be angry, to bring back the feeling from 100 years ago when they first broke up. She hasn’t felt anger towards Bonnie in a long time, and instead her heart sings out in yearning at seeing her. It reels her in like a fish on a hook, urging her to go over there.

Bonnie is dressed casually, wearing a light pink sweater and matching pink pants. Her hair is down, and to the casual observer they’d think she didn’t do much to it, but Marceline knows the truth. Bonnie spent hours straightening her hair to perfection, and if Marceline had a beating heart it would have stopped with how gorgeous she looks. She makes even every day clothing look amazing; she always has.

Marceline gives up on trying to be angry, in fact this is a good opportunity. She still has Bonnie’s number in her phone, due to never having the courage to delete it, but could never bring herself to actually call her up. Them meeting like this could be an opportunity to get back together, or at least talk things out.

It’s better than pranking anyway. Marceline lands along the tree line, eyes locked on Bonnie. The candy princess is facing the fire, the only way she’d be able to see Marceline now is if she turned around completely. She’s been staring at the fire for a while now, she must be lost in thought. Marceline vacantly wonders if Bonnie is wondering about her, though after so many years that would be ridiculous.

Okay, enough stalling. Marceline straightens her back and strolls across the clearing, pushing through a few princesses to reach the fire. A few people give her a look, probably because they haven’t seen her in 50+ years, but no one says anything. She reaches Bonnie uneventfully and decides to go for a bold approach.

She slings her right arm over Bonnie’s shoulders, noting that the princess jumps at the contact. “Hey baby, were you waiting for me?” Marceline plants the best grin she can muster and waits for Bonnie to react.

She doesn’t have to wait long as Bonnie’s head snaps left, her eyes widening in surprise. “M-Marceline?!” Her jaw drops, pupils widening ever so slightly. Her eyes click to Marceline’s arm, which is still draped over her shoulders and her body locks down. Her eyes narrow and she firmly steps to her right, causing Marceline’s arm to drop back to her side. “You weren’t on the guest list.” She crosses her arms and turns slightly away from Marceline, eyes going back to the fire.

That isn’t the greeting that Marceline was hoping for. “Yeah well, you know a party isn’t real until the Vampire Queen shows up.” She goes for a light-hearted tone, still wanting to turn the conversation around.

“No one has ever said that.” Bonnie rolls her eyes in response, her tone flat. She seems to be inching away from Marceline with each passing moment. She glances around, and Marceline wonders if she’s looking for someone else to talk to.

That’s not cool, Marceline feels a rush of the anger she was searching for before bubbling in her chest. She reaches out with her right hand to touch Bonnie’s arm, “Hey, I just…”

“Don’t touch me!” Bonnie interrupts her with a shove, pushing Marceline and forcing her to take a step to her left.

“Bonnie…”

“And don’t call me that!” Bonnie takes another step to her right, putting even more distance between them. Marceline isn’t sure what she’s doing wrong her, but Bonnie looks even more uncomfortable than when she arrived. “What do you want Marceline?”

Marceline swallows deeply, Bonnie’s voice is so dark, she sounds upset. It’s a good question though. What does Marceline want? She can’t tell her that she wants to get back together, especially after her initial reaction. “I just want to talk.” Is what she decides on.

Bonnie’s eyes narrow at the comment, “Well I don’t want to talk to you, did that ever occur to you? Or are you still too self-centered to notice?”

With that, Bonnie stomps away from the fire and into the crowd of princesses. Marceline raises one hand towards her and wants to shout out to her, but she’s gone.

Self-centered? That’s rich coming from the queen of only caring about yourself. Rage threatens to overwhelm Marceline, and suddenly the fire is far too hot. She takes off in the sky and races home, once again fighting the tears which are threatening to spill. She was so dumb to think they could reconcile, of course Bonnie wants nothing to do with her, and she was wrong to think that Bonnie might have changed.

She pulls out her bass and recording equipment that night, records a song and places it into the mail addressed to “Bonnie.” Marceline knows that Bonnie will open it, and she knows how it’ll make her feel.

Three days later a warrant for her arrest is issued within the Candy Kingdom. Anyone who sees her within its borders is to bring her in and turn her over directly to the princess.

* * *

150 AB

Bonnie probably meant the warrant to be a deterrent for Marceline, but in fact it does the exact opposite. Marceline hadn’t stepped foot in the Candy Kingdom since she and Bonnie broke up, but this new warrant brings a fun new challenge.

She spends her free days romping through the Kingdom, finding any way she can to disturb Bonnie and her citizens without getting caught. She has two favorites, they’re classics but both great. The first is to spend a little time in the mud in the forests outside the Kingdom. Next, she flies around the castle, making sure to pick up a few banana guards to chase her around. If she happens to fly by Bonnie’s room or labs, she kicks in a little mud. If she happens to nail Bonnie while she’s doing it, well that’s just a bonus.

Her second favorite activity is strolling into the Kingdom at 3:00 AM with her portable amp and bass in hand. Bonnie typically starts her day around 5:30, so really there’s no better time than 3. Everyone is fast asleep, so nobody disturbs Marceline as she sets up right in front of the castle gates. She tunes, then gives the castle a nice wake up call with some of her newest and most popular tunes. Most days, a banana guard comes out and chases her until she leaves, but on the rarest and best days Bonnie will peer out the window. She always rewards her with a look of pure hatred, and even though it’s negative it still fuels Marceline.

One fateful morning brings the end to Marceline’s fun. She’s not sure if she got complacent or just slipped up, or maybe Bonnie planned this for months. Either way, she’s playing her bass at 3 AM as usual when a large net flies out the window. It has webbing so she can’t turn into a bat and escape, and Marceline is hauled off to the jail.

The jail cells themselves do not have webbing, so Marceline’s escape will be quite easy. She decides to wait however, surely Bonnie will come down to see her. She wonders if it’s cocky to assume that, but Bonnie has always been predictable.

Sure enough, after a few hours Bonnie appears in the dungeon. She looks just as beautiful as Marceline remembers, though she scolds herself for thinking that. Bonnie also looks furious, eyebrows clenched and arms crossed.

Marceline tries to play it smooth, “Did you invent that net? It was great I couldn’t get out at all.”

The question draws Bonnie out of her anger for a moment, “I did invent it actually, specifically for you.”

“Ooh, I feel so special,” Marceline drawls, leaning against the cell bars. “So, you here to let me out?”

Bonnie shakes her head as if remembering why she’s there, “No! I’m here for an explanation.” Her black eyes bore into Marceline, waiting for her to respond.

“An explanation, for what?” Marceline grins lazily at her, knowing she can get a rise from the easily irritable princess.

Sure enough, Bonnie stomps her foot with an angry huff. “Urgh!! Why are you like this?” Bonnie rubs her temples, “No wait, I already know why. I just want to know why?”

Marceline blinks at her, “Why what? I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She fights to keep her grin from spreading further, trying to sound as convincing as possible.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about!” Bonnie’s voice escalates in tone and volume. “Every day you torture this Kingdom. Every day you blast your atrocious music through _my_ castle.” Bonnie lets out an exasperated sigh, “And for what? Just to get a rise out of me? Well, here you go! You got your wish!” 

The smile slips off Marceline’s face and the two fall into silence, Bonnie still huffing angrily. “Aren’t you going to say something?” Bonnie grabs the bars, frustration seething through her voice.

Marceline looks down at her hands, her voice getting caught in her throat. “You don’t like my music?” Marceline pushes herself to speak, her heart dropping into her gut.

“What?!” Bonnie raises her eyebrows, “Out of everything I said, that’s your takeaway? I can’t believe you.” Bonnie sighs in irritation and her eyes flick to Marceline’s, then back down at the cell bars, clearly deep in thought. “No, I don’t like your music, and I don’t like you. There’s nothing between us anymore, anyway, why can’t you just accept that.”

The words sting far more than Marceline would care to admit, each like a dagger going into her chest. She staggers back further into the cell, her fists clenching as she draws a shaky breath, “Do you think I don’t know that? You’re so full of yourself, of course you think I’m here for you.”

Bonnie makes eye contact with her again, her gaze piercing. “Then why are you here?”

Marceline can’t answer that. She could lie to Bonnie, spin some elaborate story, but not today. She’s too upset. Instead, she transforms into a bat, flying through the cell bars and over Bonnie’s shoulder to make her escape. She hears Bonnie cry out in surprise as she flees, but none are quick enough to catch her and before long she finds herself home in her treehouse.

She can’t stop the tears now; they flow freely as she holds Hambo close. It’s been 150 years, but the two of them are even further apart than when they split up, maybe she should just forget about Bonnie completely.

Marceline wipes her tears and picks up her phone. “Ash? Yeah, can you come over? I need you.”

* * *

Marceline doesn’t speak or hear of Bonnie for the next 350 years. She continues to live her life in ignorance. Then, on that fateful night Finn asks her for a favor and drags Bonnie back into her life.

She doesn’t regret agreeing to help him.


End file.
